Destroying from within: The "ironic appointment" in Franklin

I knew the name was familiar; it took only a moment or two to find out why.

On the Common Council agenda for tonight, the mayor has nominated one Diane Baranowski for a seat on the much-hobbled Environmental Commission.

A nomination, it appears, executed in the long tradition of destroying from within those institutions deemed unnecessary or averse to Those Who Matter (in this case, read: developers).

The so-called "ironic appointment."

Ronald Reagan's handlers worried that if it named competent people to run "objectionable" agencies, its actions might be interpreted by Those Who Matter as sanctioning the regulatory enterprise. That's how the neophyte Colorado state legislator Anne Gorsuch was put in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency. And she gutted it from within.

George W. Bush nominates UN denouncer John Bolton in 2005 as our ambassador to the UN.

Bush's Department of Labor is run by self-admitted haters of labor. They go so far as to agree to give Wal-Mart a fifteen-day notice before "investigating" it for any possible child labor violations.

And here in Franklin, the Common Council is being asked to approve the appointment of a woman who wrote the note below - cc'ed to the mayor - to blogger Greg Kowalski (who has an entry about the situation as well) while he was attempting to get even cosmetic improvements made to the Target Store in the Parking Lots Shoppes at Wyndham Village.

Ms. Baranowski has every right to her opinion, and I'm sure she is well-intentioned. However, do the sentiments below sound like those of a person who is anxious to help Franklin remain vigilant regarding environmental impacts? Does this sound like the attitude of a person who is busy reading whatever she can on "green" issues, both pro and con? Think she'll be anxious to head up a subcommittee to look into alternate parking configurations or green roofs (to quote Ms. Baranowski: "UNDERGROUND PARKING - Are you NUTS? A "GREEN" ROOF - same!")?

No. It sounds like someone who is on Mark Carstensen's and Target Corporate's Christmas card list. And the appointment smells to high heaven like a concession to one or both of those entities.

I serve on the relatively low-impact Economic Development Commission, having been nominated for the position by Mayor Taylor; Plan Commission was off-limits to me, evidently. Both myself and all the citizen commissions are belittled by a manuever this cynical. 

Will someone read the letter below into the record before the council votes?

----- Original Message -----

From: Diane Baranowski
To: franklinblog@gmail.com

Cc: ttaylor31@wi.rr.com

Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 3:52 PM

Subject: Petition

I apologize for the previous signatures on the on-line petition. Later in this email, I will explain how that happened.

 

I do NOT endorse this protest petition or it's position statement in any way, shape or form. I'd be curious to know where you live or what your REAL motive might be, despite the named one. Frankly, if you lived in Wyndham Hills, I could see that the "demands" that you have made are more for your own self interest than anything else. 

 

Honestly, it's people like you and others who sign your petition who essentially force GOOD developers to look elsewhere without even CONSIDERING a possible site in Franklin. They're not going to jump through your suggested ridiculous hoops! UNDERGROUND PARKING - Are you NUTS? A "GREEN" ROOF - same! Remember that these companies could have brought employment opportunities with them if they had been welcomed to Franklin. 

 

Is it possible that with this nonsense, you're attempting to make a "name" for yourself so that when your want to run for public office, you'll be a known entity? Well, guess what? Most any constituency will know by then that your ideas are foolish!

 

Get off of this "rant" of yours regarding Target and help to BRING them and other good developments TO Franklin. This city needs commercial development. Are you (or your parents) and whomever your signers are, so happy with their tax bills that they can afford to join you as you push Target out? From this point forward, developers will simply skip Franklin on their lists of possible building sites if you pull this off - LOL!

 

Not surprisingly, your signature process is misleading. The request to sign the petition includes 2 little carrots or whatever they're called. These symbols seem to indicate that on the next page, one could actually sign when you are actually signing on the first page. Shame on you! I personally do not want my name on any petition of yours. If I learn that my signature is being used, despite my intention not to have it appear, there will be hell to pay!

 

By the way, petitions signed "anonymous" would not be proper and certainly would not be considered as a valid signature by ANYONE. What are you going to do when you present this petition? Would you indicate that you got a certain number of signatures and not disclose that some of them were signed "anonymous"? I'm going to keep you honest in this petition drive. Given your whole process, I'm going to make sure that all signatures are proper. I figure that Target officials will want to see them. I WANT Target here and I know that Mark Carstensen will do an amazing job of developing the site at HWY 100 and Drexel!

 

I'm going to the Target corporate website right now and hope that they have a "contact us" option that I can use. I've got a lot to say to them.   

Comments

[Jeff]

I thought of the exact same things RE: the Bush admin appointments when I first heard about this. I admire Ms. Baranowski for wanting to take part in government, and she should have that ability. Further I always welcome dissenting and diverse viewpoints into a process. But I draw the line at nominating someone who seemingly stands quite firmly against the very core mission of the commission in question.

I don't know Ms. Baranowski, but judging soley by that letter, perhaps the Economic Development Commission would be more appropriate.

[Al Foeckler]

It will be interesting to see who gets the nod for the open Plan Commission seat. Carstensen perhaps?

[J. Strupp]

This appointment is simply public sabotage of a commission whose very existence runs contrary to the Mayor's interests. I don't dig into local politics as much as I should but antics such as these just make me sick.

Why not just be a man and eliminate the commission altogether instead of playing greaseball politics and undermining it from within?